"WE'RE NOT IN BANGKOK ANYMORE"

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND

Temperature: 31 degrees celcius

Track of the day: Sleeping to Dream - Jason Mraz

"Listen to this," I say to Alecs, reading from the Lonely Planet Thai language book. Alecs stops packing for a moment as I continue reading. "In Thailand you may hear a person who arrives late for an appointment joke about being on 'Thai Time' as punctuality is generally a more fluid concept than some westerners are used to," I read aloud in our

hotel room. Alecs smiles. "Sounds like Filipino time," he says as he stuffs his last t-shirt in his backpack. It's our last day in Bangkok and we want to get half a day of shopping in before heading to the Train Station for our journey north to Chiang Mai. We arrive at MBK shopping mall 15 minutes before opening and when the doors do open guards stand at the entryways saluting us while dozens of clerks line the aisles dutifully waiting to serve the people. "I could get used to this," I

say as we take the escalator upstairs to an entire floor of cell phones. We walk past hundreds of shops all selling phones - a monk stands at a kiosk testing a small flip phone and I can't help but smile. The floor above sells nothing but t-shirts and the one above that is all furn

iture. "This place is amazing," says Alecs eying some Nintendo DS games on the electronics floor, "it's like a market in a modern mall," he adds. After a few hours of wandering around the massive mall we take the Skytrain back to our hotel and checkout. A quick taxi ride and we're at the Hualompong Train Station where we find a piece of floor in the centre of the station to camp out for a few hours.  A large group of scouts crowds the station and Alecs and I are soon surrounded by chattering children. "Kids  really do act the same world wide," Alecs says as a young boy throws a rubber lizard at a group of girls. Time goes by faster than expected and now it's almost 6:00PM, time for our train to arrive. Alecs and I walk out to the platform where the mix of heat from the trains, people and the Bangkok weather come down on us like a wet blanket. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes - 45 minutes later the train finally arrives. "Thai time," Alecs 

says recalling the exert I read earlier about punctuality being a little looser here in Thailand. We smile at each other and board the narrow hallway of our first class train compartment.  "I can't fit," Alecs whines as he tries to squeeze himself with his backpack on through the narrow compartment doors of seats 19 and 20. "Take of your backpack," I say, rolling my eyes. We have a private compartment with a small sink and plenty of room to store our luggage. "This is going to be a nice ride," I say to Alecs as we settle on our couch waiting for the air conditioning to kick in. The trai

n finally departs and only a little more than an hour late. Soon a young Thai man takes our dinner order and another converts our couch into two bunk beds with a pillow and a blanket. I claim the bottom bunk while Alecs se

ttles up top and after dinner we lock up our compartment door and settle into bed.  The gentle rocking of the train has us both

 asleep in no time, curled up under our blankets as the air-conditioning keeps the room cool. 

"We're not in Bangkok anymore," Alecs says from the top bunk the next morning. I open the window curtains

 and although it's still dark out it's quite evident we are somewhere in the north. Tall lush mountains loom over us and forests with jungle vines and leafy moist floors line the train tracks. "Look at that,"I gasp pointing to the sun peeking out from behind the mountains in the distance. "Wow, it's beautiful," Alecs replies as w

e both stare in awe at the orange ball of fire that reflects off the morning dew on the leafy trees. An hour later a railway employee walks the halls of our train car calling out "Chiang Mai, next stop, Chiang Mai." We reluctantly pack up our bags and prepare for our departure out into northern Thailand. As the train comes to a stop at the manicured station we squeeze our way through the hallway and quickly bargain down a tuk-tuk to take us to the

 bus station. "It's like Calgary," Alecs says about the weather while we hop off the tuk-tuk. The humidity here in Chiang Mai is next to nothing and according to our iPhone, it's only 25 degrees celcius. We purchase our $5 train ticket for the three hour journey to Chiang Rai and quickly board our bus. The a

ir-conditioned coach also includes a drink and snack from the on-board waitress and arrives at our destination right on time.  "Where you go?" asks a gentleman waiting outside the bus as we pick up our backpacks. "Laluna," I reply as I swing the pack over my shoulders. We negotiate a price and hop in his Sangathaew - a converted pickup truck with a roof for the short ride toour hotel. "I sure hope this place isn't a dive," I say to Alecs as we pass a scruffy, but healthy looking dog crosses the road behind us. My questions are soon answered as we pull up the long driveway to Laluna Resort and Spa, lined with palm trees and a serene fountain out front. A staff member leads us to our room located in front of the tranquil pool and we step onto the teak wood floors and excitedly explore our large clean room. "I can't believe we only paid $28 for this place," Alecs says while we look out our window at the garden oasis in front of us. The clientele here are mostly seniors and wealthy looking europeans in speedos (yuck!), and our age and budget group seem to be unrepresented. "This place is supposed to be $100 a night," I tell Alecs, reading from the Laluna website. We both count our blessings and settle into bed for a good nights rest. Tomorrow is more sight seeing and surely another great adventure. Until next time, so long.

Meg and Alecs in Chiang Rai.